Or would you leave it alone?
In honor of the first round of the NFL Draft last night, let’s discuss MLB’s own version of reading names off of a cue card.
Unlike the NFL, MLB actually holds its draft mid-season. It used to take place on a random weekend in June, but since 2021 it now is held during All-Star week and is hosted by whatever city is the center of the festivities.
The MLB draft will never be quite the same as that of its NFL counterpart, primarily because college football is a behemoth in its own right and creates its own stars that are funneled directly into the NFL almost ready-made. College baseball is simply not the same beast as college football; plus, there’s a large number of players selected in the MLB draft that are taken right out of high school. Hardly anyone has heard of or is familiar in any way with the vast majority of players selected in the MLB draft, and anyone who wants to get invested usually has to completely rely on scouting reports rather than their own eye test.
MLB also has a much more complicated rule set when it comes to its draft. There are bonus pools that limit the amount of money a team can use to sign a player that sometimes result in that player not signing with the team that drafted him. There are penalties applied to teams who excel the luxury tax thresholds. There are picks that are given or taken depending on what a team did in regard to a free agent signing that was offered a qualifying offer. Finally, the biggest difference is that there are 20 rounds and teams cannot trade draft picks.
MLB has attempted to make its draft more interesting in later years, as they now always televise it and have moved it to All-Star week so it’s not competing with live games. But still, it isn’t really that much of an attraction. So, how would you change the MLB draft? Would you allow draft pick trading? Rework the bonus pool system? Or would you leave it exactly the way it is and accept it simply can’t by its nature be the same as other drafts?